Mother's retreat focuses on wellness, parenting and balancing it all

Start
the new year off right. The "MOMentous Weekend," a retreat for
moms, offers seminars presented by regional experts focusing on the
topics of wellness and raising a family.

The
event will be held at Stella Niagara's Center of Renewal in
Lewiston on Saturday, Jan. 12 (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and Sunday, Jan. 13
(7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.), 2013.

Registration
is open until Dec 20. Space is limited, so tickets need to be
purchased in advance.

Participants
can spend the night at the Center of Renewal and enjoy the "Culinary
Cruise" that will travel by luxury coach to four Lewiston
restaurants allowing guests to sample signature dishes paired with
local wines.

"If
you help the mom, you help the whole family," said presenter Destin
Radder, an acupuncturist and herbalist at Women's Medicine of
Niagara. Often, the mom is the keystone - the center of the family.
The healthier the mom is, the healthier the family is."

On
Sunday, Jamie Symmonds of Angel to Apple will host a fashion show and
open her Center Street boutique to event participants.

A
portion of the proceeds from the weekend will benefit Kids Escaping
Drugs.

"The
reason I chose Kids Escaping Drugs is personal," said organizer
Joyce Barnwell. "I have a niece in Connecticut who is battling
addiction. It breaks my heart; a girl with so much potential who has
lost everything. I just hope her life can be salvaged. She is
currently under treatment. This, unfortunately, is not her first
rehabilitation program. I wanted to learn more about drug prevention,
and thought moms in this area could benefit from this knowledge as
well.

"We
will have a speaker from Kids Escaping Drugs at the event. I just
realized from what we are going through with my niece that this can
hit any family, and hard. We weren't educated about the signs."